Week 30 - 2018 in photographs

Day 203

 During monsoon season in the mountains the clouds are always a good place to begin a day. In the early dawn remnants of the storm clouds from the afternoon and evening before hang around and add to the early morning show.

Day 204

 I particularly like Day 204 because the dark storm clouds still hung over my house while the sun behind the mountain began to illuminate the fell clouds left in the southeast. 

July is always overly busy and routine seems to dominate the days. Easy to take the camera along on to the deck or a walk down the street or to an errand in Eagle Nest but not easy to get out beyond my valley for a day devoted to light and camera. And even if you could steal a day away it would be too crowded with tourists.

The photograph below is a neighbor's house. He usually has a few cars in the driveway and on his front yard. But on this particular weekend there were nine. I photographed it to record it but then began to play around with it in my photo editing program. Fun time in the quiet of the morning with another mug of coffee.

Day 205

 In day 205 the people are implied. Nine cars are at least nine people. Could be 18 or more. It has been especially hot in Texas and here frankly. But hot here is upper 80's and a couple days of low 90's. In Texas it has been above 100. So they come fishing.

Day 206

I was killing time before a store opened and took a walk above the shoreline of Eagle Nest lake. Usually I can find wild flowers blooming and waterfowl swimming but on this day it was people. Don't people my landscapes. When I uploaded to my computer I searched for artistic alternatives to modify the photos I took. I decided to go with Monet or Cezanne. Any of the Impressionists. It seemed to go with the theme of water and beaches and fishermen. And it obscured the messages on the t-shirts.

Day 207

Day 209

At the end of my walk stands the ruins of Eagle Nest Lodge. And swallowed by the trees it appeared more haunted than usual. Of as if it was an life itself staring out at me. The majority of my snaps on this morning were variations on this subject. Debating if I want to do it as a painting. It might not be haunted but it haunts me.

Day 208

My Favorites of 2015

Clouds' Illusions 

Maybe this blog is less about good photographs than the soul of an artistic mind. I posted 365 photographs in 2015 as photographs of the day. To get those 365 I was out with a camera or in front of my computer post processing some portion of every day. I would daresay I took thousands of photographs. Some I posted on other platforms and for other reasons than the 365 Day Challenge. 

And there are always other reasons to take photos. Reasons people with iPhones take pictures; a great garden, a special flower, a new kitten, selfies, self portraits, great sunrise, WIP photos of art work or home projects. Occasionally those personal snaps make it into the 365 Day Challenge just because it is a reflection of who I am. And the same is true of these favorites in this blog. They were photo of day for one of the days of this year. But they are also the ones I remember most. And the are mostly those closest to home. The opening cloud formation is one of many which rises over the Sentinel Tree on the hill across from my house. There is something about the shape of the hill or the land behind it which creates currents that builds fantastic clouds.

And the two photographs below are from my garden. I don't paint flowers. I do not pretend to be Georgia O'Keeffe (besides I like her landscape work better), but I photograph flowers. It is a relatively new focus for me. My sister, Deborah Binford Baker, is the flower photographer. It is not as easy as it looks. So many variables to factor in not the least of which is breeze with large petal flowers like poppies. The one below owes a lot of its charm to the light, and using a very fast speed. My camera thinks flowers are sporting events.

First poppy

Poppies and hollyhocks grow like weeds. I am not a gardener of Prima Donnas. I will spend more effort on vegetables but flowers need to volunteer. I also do not spend a lot of time in capturing their digital images. The hollyhocks before were a quick snap of a stalk bent under the weight of an afternoon rain. Before I staked the stalk I took its picture.

My other favorites are experiments. Frequent followers of my blogs will know I love to do reflections. There are a whole bunch of rules on reflections oddly enough. When I began taking them I followed those rules. Now I am into breaking them. Number one rule is never flip a water reflection. Reflections look upside down. The one below I flipped. The trees are never right side up in a pond reflection. A little accentuation of the ripple effect using a filter and instant Monet.

It is wise to remember at this point that I am a painter first. Well, that is a matter of focus. Pun intended. Photography was a hobby and a support for my paintings. I do not like plein aire painting for myself. Outdoors is for movement. So I take pictures and take them back to my studio. The advent of digital cameras and post processing programs gave me the luxury of playing with my pictures before I played with my pictures. Lately this playing around has given me an itch to paint with oils. Now I just need a small business expansion loan.

Monet's Pond

Meanwhile I am turning some of my photographs into faux oil paintings. Yes, I could just print the photograph on canvas. And I have done that. And is that any different than doing the painting, taking the photograph of the painting, and then doing a giclee (just French for ink jet) print of the painting?

On the icy shore

Another of my learning curves has been in black and white images. Here again my sister is the master as it were. But I have been working at black and white post processing of some of my images for some time. And taking blacks and whites. Yes, my camera has a setting which would allow me to skip right around color. And yes, a photo is better in black and white if you have that intent. By intent I mean looking for certain elements of design which make a good strong black and white. Elements like noisy sky (or background) and strong light and shadows. The original digital image is in color but from the moment I aimed my camera my mind said black and white for the photograph below.

Meeting room at the Plaza Hotel in Las Vegas, New Mexico

Another area of exploration has been the DSLR selfie, a self portrait without aid of tripod. I do not mean to be anti tripod. I own three. I just often find them more work than aid. And with the selfie they do not give you the deer in the headlights look of the iPhone. And unlike the iphone the DSLR selfie gives you the chance to include context. At the very least the "I am a photographer" element. I like the one below because it seems more like a painter's self portrait than a profile shot for a web page. Well, except for the DSLR.

Selfie with Camera

I don't take portraits. Used to do a lot of candid portrait work. Seemed to open me up for requests to do weddings. I don't do weddings. Or children. But I do fur kids. And I currently have a kitten, Thicke, who is a ham. He loves to pose in bowls, baskets, basins, and boxes.

Thicke in the Basin

So now in addition to my camera going in the car with me it goes around the house with me. 

To sum up these favorites of 2015 are very personal to me because of subject matter or as milestones on my path to being a better photographer. 

Week 47 - 2015 in Photographs

Day 323
Ice house door

 New Mexico weather is fickle even in the high mountains. My father used to say about the weather here, "Wait ten minutes or drive ten miles and it will change."

The week these were taken Hurricane Patricia hit the western coast of Mexico and funneled tropical moisture into the mountains. It was met by a polar jet stream and became snow. As I write this it it is raining thanks to moisture from Hurricane Sandra. It is melting the last of this snow in these pictures before changing to snow late tonight.

I like the early snows. I know they will leave. And they are new. They cover, sometimes just briefly, the dried grasses of fall. And it must be said, they bring moisture. But for a photographer it is even more important that they bring new views to capture. I am especially fond of the ponds which seem to linger between ice and liquid, turning themselves into highly polished mirrors at times.

Day 324

No photo manipulation required for the reflection above. And the pond is mostly iced over but very, very thinly. A slight wind resulted in the frozen mosaic look. Only the half circle in the upper left is unfrozen. That unfrozen part and the grasses to its right will be featured in another photo. The same pond, on the same day, is the subject of the next two photographs also.

Day 325

 Standing in almost the exact same spot on the pond but looking to my right I captured this reflection. It had begun to snow again and I hoped the flakes would snow up against the dark trees. I generally do not flip reflections but snowed in later I was in a playful mood. I used a brush stroke filter, intensified the color just a bit and flipped. Monet.

Day 326

And Day 326 is the pool of unfrozen water from another angle. Closer it reveals another strip of unfrozen water along the shore. The highly reflective ice captures the rows of tall grasses in the snow. And what series of snow photographs is complete without a black and white of aspen trunks.

Day 327

Day 328

 Summer and fall are often too busy to play a lot with my photographs. But a cold winter morning is perfect to sit before the computer with hot coffee and a lap robe and play. Day 328 is a detail of a sculpture in a greenhouse. I was trying, and again failing at minimalism. In fact, I finally reached the conclusion that I just do not fit with that group so quit. My attempts, however, did give me some different perspectives on familiar territory. And it seemed to have sparked a certain sense of rebellion in me. I had posted Day 326 in the group on Facebook and was found wanting. Day 328 passed through my computer as a black and white with blurred edges and then got trashed for this rather over the top treatment.

The minimalism version of Day 329 fell to the same fate. Heavy brush stroke filter and tweaking the saturation and a Cezanne.

Day 329

I like black and white. Day 323 and Day 327 are naturals for black and white. But bold black and white. I am just not a minimalist.

Week 17 - 2015 in Photographs

Day 113

This week also has a lot of water. Hard to pass up all those beautiful reflections not to mention the things on the water like the geese. Expect more geese because soon there will be goslings. But I made an effort to get out and about with my camera. But just because you take a picture does not make it note worthy. Water photographs were just turning out better this last couple of weeks.

Day 114

The sculpture above stands at the United Church of Angel Fire up church road. It is suppose to be the three crosses. I am, however ever unclear about the tubular bell shape. Do they ring? But the rusty iron before the purple mountains gets me every time.

Day 115

Herons slipped into the migratory pattern this last week. They never seem to stick around long enough for them to get totally used to my camera. So my shots are always from a distance. I like this one among the willows with the almost mirror like reflection.

But the black and white photograph below of sun rays slipping through the trees is one of my favorite reflection photographs. The sun makes the trees look ethereal. I said in last week's blog that rules were made to be broken and three of the watery reflection photographs in this week's blog does that. The waterline in these two is really close to center. And in Day 116 and Day 117 the sky is included. In the black and white I do not have to worry about the difference in the color of sky and water.

Day 116

And in Day 117 the clouds break up the lighter blue of the sky. You can tell spring time in the Rockies because of the nature of the clouds. No longer the low hanging blanket of cloud.

Day 117

The clouds are above the tops of the mountains and have tops and space unless it is actually during a snow storm. This may be the winter of snow-capped mountain photographs. I seem to have gotten Old Mike and Wheeler Peak often and from many different angles. I like it best with clouds and with the snow fields broken up by wind and melt. It gives the mountains more definition and depth.

Day 118

And back to water and reflections. And this one with absolutely no land. With post processing I think it looks like the water in a Cezanne or Monet painting.

Day 119

Week 15 - 2014 in Images

Day 99

This week ended with a whole day in Santa Fe with most of it spent at Eye Associates of New Mexico. And all I have to say about that is thank heaves for auto focus cameras and lenses. But as my cataracts have gotten worse rapidly I have noticed my affinity for anything but pinpoint focus in images. I gone for reflections in the newly melted pond water and for haze of clouds over mountains.

Day 100

And, of course, my fondness for bright manipulation of images. The watery reflections remind my of Monet paintings. He has always been one of my favorites. The one blow reminds me of his lily pads. And the only manipulation in Day 101 was the wind kicking up the ripples across the pond.

Day 101

However, I did play with the colors in Day 102. And used one of my favorite filters to give it an enameled appearance. I confess that was in part due to the ducks being out of focus because my camera chose the reflections nearest to the bank and I didn't notice it. Yes, I could have just consigned it to the trash but I loved the composition of this pond picture.

Day 102

Saturday I went to Old Town Gallery in Cimarron for a workshop on metal embossing. Great fun. And Cimarron is one of my favorite places to run around with a camera. The next two photographs are from the Old Town area of Cimarron. To like Cimarron you do have to get off of State Highway 64. Cimarron will also be represented in Week 16.

Day 103

I love focusing on windows and doors. The word window one of my fans on Binford-Bell Studio informs me it comes from the Scandinavian for winds eye. That fits with my sense that windows are the eyes of a building.

Day 104

Question of the morning is are ponds the eyes of the earth? The Navajo believe Coyote led the Dine' or people up through holes in the earth to the surface. While doing photography in Arches and Canyonlands I saw some of the holes the winds had carved in the rock as possible portals. But wouldn't the spirits have covered the actual entries to this world better like with water and reflections to obscure your vision?

Day 105

Week Eight - Seven Days with one Still Life

Day 50 - The Creamer

I mentioned in last week's blog about the 365 day challenge that it might be interesting to spend one week with one subject. I decided to do it out of a certain sense of ennui. The weather has been horrid and it is February. And historically a lot of artists have revisited a subject over and over like Monet with his waterlilies, conveniently located in his back yard, and Chartres Cathedral just down the block. Photographers too have seemed to make extended studies like Ansel Adams of Yosemite National Park or Ranchos de Taos Mission.

Besides what could be easier for a photographer than daily photographing a still life arrangement set up in her studio? Just a bit of rearranging, adding or subtracting a minor player, changing the light, picking a different time of day, or rotating the base to catch the light in the windows differently?

I posted on Binford-Bell Studio Fan Page seven photos of my still life with creamer but I took a lot more. So this week on this review of the last seven of the 365 days of 2013 I am going to post some of the also rans.

Day 52 - Also Ran

Same arrangement as Day to but on a sunny day with the studio lights on for the shadow. Warmer colors because of warmer light. I was drawn to the shadows on the basket and so played in the dry darkroom of my computer to bring them up to greater prominence in the composition.

Day 52  - a black and white

Day 53 - Dried Amaryllis flower added

I added an element on day 53 and rotated the tile base just a little and turned on more studio lights to heighten the shadows. I also turned the creamer just a bit to almost a profile view.

Day 54 - Light from windows only

Subtract flowers, turn off lights and try to catch the effect of just the morning light coming through the windows of the studio. Notice the dust on the creamer? Back to the 3/4 view of the spout. And I used a selective focus post process program.

Also ran for day 55

I polished the creamer and the brass vase. Brought back the flowers and added the ball. Right after I took the picture I noticed the yellow seed or something just in front of the candle snuffer and used the scratch remover to delete it. Was going to post that version for the day but decided to play. Ergo the real Day 55.

Day 55

This one when posted has been mistaken for a painting of mine as opposed to a photograph. And I guess in someways you could say it is a digital painting of a photographic image. And available as a Giclee print. I do not do prints of my paintings but all photographs when printed are Giclee which is just blown ink. All my photographs are for sale in a size of your choosing and printed on paper or canvas. This one on canvas would look even more like a painting.

Day 56 - Creamer takes a bow

The polishing of the creamer allowed a wonderful play of reflections of the studio windows and plants. Always have to make sure as a photographer I am not in the picture but the curved surface of the creamer made that easier than mirrors.

Interestingly enough I have not dismantled the still life in the studio. Who knows some interesting combination of light and shadow may cause me to snap it again. I learned a lot from this concentration on one subject. I feel as if I have taken a graduate seminar in photography.

BTW this next week will be very different. Weather improved and another photographer and I decided to erase cabin fever with a road trip through the neighborhood. I promise no creamers.

And just to close off an also ran in Black and White.

Shapes and shadows

Oh, and I did not post day 51. Check out the link to catch that one. Frankly it was the lessor of all posts this last week.

One Subject - Several Views

Butterfly Amaryllis

Monet painted over and over the water lilies in his garden pond. When I lived in Washington, D.C. I had the opportunity of standing before two of his water lily compositions at the National Gallery of Art. They were wall size - floor to ceiling and placed on two walls that met in a corner. Standing there you felt surrounded by his subject and just a bit overwhelmed.

Artists do repeat themselves with a subject that entices until they feel they gotten it right. Beginning on January 15th I took numerous photographs of my Butterfly Amaryllis as it has bloomed, withered and then bloomed and withered again.

Post Processed

I have tried different angles, different effects and even gone black and white for a subject that seems to be all about color.

Spreading its wings

The Butterfly Amaryllis is difficult to photograph because it always blooms in twins and is huge from tip of one flower to the tip of the other. And the depth of each blossom is almost four inches.

Dying Swans

As the second set of twins slowly opened I found my photographer's eye drawn to the withering blossoms of the first set of blooms.

Taking a bow

Even fading from its full glory it maintains wonderful color and grace. I could not trim the husks from the plant as my mother would have advised because they were still magical expressions of nature.

Turning away from the light

I think of all the pictures I took of this flowering event in my studio the one above is my favorite in its utter simplicity and to me statement of a profound moment. I found this dying blossom as it wilted and turned away from the light spoke volumes to me of the process of living things. And in the ability of artists to delve deeply into one subject through repetition. My one question, however, is do we ever get it totally right?